Building the Ravenel Bridge


After all the photos I took, I've tried to arrange them in some order based on various topics I found interesting.

And a reminder from T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets)

Old men ought to be explorers
Here and there does not matter
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion

June 26, 2005: From Easton Pennsylvania

Our son-in-law, daughter and grandson moved from Allentown to Easton and so this weekend, we are in Easton to help. My weekly data collection visits to the new Cooper River Bridge asked why not find a bridge here? So this morning I started walking down the long hill from Trevor and Rachel's new home, above the Deleware river. Sure enough, there was a bridge. I even managed to walk from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and back while taking a few photos. Here are two of the bridges.

From a distance

A box girder bridge

and a small suspension bridge

and a digital sketch

The Internet both flattens and minifies our world. Today (July 19, 2005) Joe Reilly from Easton sent me a short story of the suspension bridge (called the Free Bridge):

My family and I vacation on Kiawah Island and we always visit Charleston at least once during our stay. I have been following with interest the construction of the Cooper River Bridge. (I am a mechanical draftsman and love anything to do with big construction.)

Imagine my shock when looking at the bottom of Home page and seeing pictures of what the locals here call the "Free bridge" (suspension) and what the locals call the "toll bridge" (box girder). I grew up across the river from Easton. (Phillipsburg NJ.)

I've attached pictures of the bridges taken last Sept. when hurricane Irene swept thru. The river had not been out of it's banks in 50 years and in a matter of 7 months flooded twice. (again this past march)

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

C. Frank Starmer

_